as title says my wife and I had a car accident tonight something jumped out infront of us and a swerved and we hit a tree luckily we came out with minor bruises and bumps BUT no airbags deployed at all!!! tow truck driver was certain that the car was a complete write saying that the motor has been pushed back! what my problem is why airbag did not deploy? i would have hit easily at 60kph!!

as title says my wife and I had a car accident tonight something jumped out infront of us and a swerved and we hit a tree luckily we came out with minor bruises and bumps BUT no airbags deployed at all!!! tow truck driver was certain that the car was a complete write saying that the motor has been pushed back! what my problem is why airbag did not deploy? i would have hit easily at 60kph!!

Has anyone any knowledge on this matter?

Should i be having words with a lawyer over this matter?

all help appreciated

Thanks

jay

You have only minor bumps and bruises? What exactly are you going to talk to a lawyer about? Sorry, I'm not trying to sound obtuse, but if you didn't get hurt be happy the bags didn't deploy, it sucks getting smacked in the face with the bag.

as title says my wife and I had a car accident tonight something jumped out infront of us and a swerved and we hit a tree luckily we came out with minor bruises and bumps BUT no airbags deployed at all!!! tow truck driver was certain that the car was a complete write saying that the motor has been pushed back! what my problem is why airbag did not deploy? i would have hit easily at 60kph!!

Has anyone any knowledge on this matter?

Should i be having words with a lawyer over this matter?

all help appreciated

Thanks

jay

Glad you and your wife are okay. Last year a good friend of mine lost his live hitting a tree, he was an experienced driver both on the road and track. He was only 28 years old ... I don't know about the air bags. Sounds frightening I would inquire both with a lawyer and of course the net and the dealer as well.

Consulting a lawyer because the airbags didn't deploy and there were NO SERIOUS INJURIES OR A LOSS OF LIFE?!

Like others have said, I am glad no one got hurt, but please move on. There are many instances where an airbag will not deploy. If your rate of deceleration did not exceed the threshold of the airbag system, then the system did it's job properly.

What's the point of having airbags if they aren't going to deploy? Because the driver and his wife were lucky enough to avoid serious injury, that means all is well?
I'm not saying sue, but I'd want a satisfactory explanation as to why a safety feature of the car...failed. I replaced the drivers side airbag in mine...and those suckers aren't cheap. It better work.

What's the point of having airbags if they aren't going to deploy? Because the driver and his wife were lucky enough to avoid serious injury, that means all is well?
I'm not saying sue, but I'd want a satisfactory explanation as to why a safety feature of the car...failed. I replaced the drivers side airbag in mine...and those suckers aren't cheap. It better work.

The purpose of air bag is to deploy to prevent serious injuries. If you don't have serious injuries then air bag not being deployed is a blessing.

Are you being purposely obtuse or do you not understand the purpose of an airbag? They are meant to deploy only under certain conditions, and there are rather high thresholds for their deployment, as they often cause injuries (sometimes major) when deployed. Therefore you want your airbags to deploy only when your total risk of injury is lessened by their deployment, which is not the case for most non-serious accidents.

If your car punched you in the face, broke your jaw, and burned the skin off your lips every time you tapped a bumper during parallel parking, I don't think that would be too pleasant.

10. Why might only one, or neither, of my frontal advanced air bags deploy in a crash?

The driver and passenger frontal air bags operate independently of one another. It is possible for the driver or passenger frontal air bag to deploy, neither to deploy or both to deploy, depending on the crash severity and the characteristics of the occupants (such as presence, size, seat position and seat belt use). For example, if the right front seat is empty, the passenger frontal air bag may not inflate.

Are you being purposely obtuse or do you not understand the purpose of an airbag? They are meant to deploy only under certain conditions, and there are rather high thresholds for their deployment, as they often cause injuries (sometimes major) when deployed. Therefore you want your airbags to deploy only when your total risk of injury is lessened by their deployment, which is not the case for most non-serious accidents.

If your car punched you in the face, broke your jaw, and burned the skin off your lips every time you tapped a bumper during parallel parking, I don't think that would be too pleasant.

Which would be a satisfactory explanation...which is what I said. Good use of the work "obtuse" however. You can remove that day from your "word of the day" calendar on your desk.

A co-worker bumped the side of the building a while back, barely any visible damage to the front of her vehicle...airbag deployed. No damage to the building either. Does a couple mph fall under a "high threshold"?

Anyone remember the air duct covers that were placed on North American e46 M3's because someone sued BMW N.A. when a rabbit got caught in the brake duct?
I'm glad you and you're wife are OK sir. But, I'd be praising BMW for keeping you and your wife safe in such a high speed accident.

The car will work out if it needs them or not. I've seen an accident where the car hit a tree smack in the middle of the bonnet, spun around and hit a factory, not one bag went off, but the driver walked away.

I've had an airbag deploy and smack me in the face before AND I was only going 50kph. I'm pretty sure the Airbag did more damage to my face then the actual impact. BUT if I have been going any faster...Lets say 75+ kph and had the same crash. It would have easily saved me from a bigger injury.
Your car just like all of them now are built with crumple zones and endless other safety options. If it senses airbags aren't going to help absorb the impact for whatever reason, they won't deploy. The engineers and people who worked on these systems are WAY smarter then you. And so is the software / systems they designed. And I don't say that to be rude, in a situation or crash those systems are smarter then all of us.

Glad to hear everyone is ok and these systems did their job. Also I hope your insurance company does the right thing!